In San Salvador, El Salvador, two thousand miles from Los Angeles’s 18th Street, a gang known as “18″ governs its territory like an armed militia. In the mid 1990s, thousands of Salvadoran nationals living illegally in the U.S. were deported to their homeland. Some brought L.A. gang culture back with them to a country beset by poverty and awash in arms. Organizing support for gang members in need, meting out justice to those who would defy the gang’s code and waging an endless vendetta against its enemies, 18 is helping to make El Salvador one of the most violent and crime-ridden countries in the world. “18 with a Bullet” presents a chilling portrait of six months in the life of this notorious Central American gang.